


Borrowed Time on Roquist 7

by Quipxotic



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Academia, Audio 088: Memory Lane, Audio 217: The Memory Bank and Other Stories, Bickering, Friendship, Gen, Memories, Mistaken Identity, Post-Audio 147: Kiss of Death, Post-Episode: 2015 Xmas The Husbands of River Song, Post-Episode: s09e12 Hell Bent, Serial: s121 Earthshock, Spoilers, Team as Family, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-01 23:29:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6541159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quipxotic/pseuds/Quipxotic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Fifth Doctor and his companions are forced to land on Roquist 7, only to find themselves surprise guests at a time-travelers' conference. Several people from the Doctor's personal future are also attending, which leads to a scramble to protect the timeline. But will the solution to their problem cause more harm than good?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Surprise Landing

The Doctor stood alone in the TARDIS control room quietly muttering to himself.

“What’s wrong, Old Girl?” he grumbled, patting the console absentmindedly. The TARDIS shuttered ever so slightly, barely enough for most of its occupants to feel, but to the Doctor it was an early warning sign for a larger problem. “Are you still having slippage issues with your physical vector generators?” 

“Doctor? Are you in here?” The sound of Nyssa’s voice proceeded her into the room. “Is everything alright? I thought I felt something.”

“I’m not sure. Perhaps I need to reformat the interior dimensions.”

“Again?” Nyssa asked, approaching the console. “Didn’t you do that already while we were on Vektris?”

“Yes, I did, but perhaps it didn’t finalize completely. I should find somewhere to land so that I can run a few diagnostics. Where are Tegan and Turlough?”

Just then they heard the others approaching…and yelling.

“Of all the slimy, underhanded…”

“Give it a rest, Tegan. You lost, fair and square.”

“No, you cheated. You can’t even play fair in a simple card game, you lying…”

Turlough walked through the doors first, hands in his pockets and grinning smugly. He was followed soon after by Tegan, who was gesturing wildly in her anger. “You don’t even have the decency to look at me while I talk to you!”

“You’re always talking, Tegan,” Turlough interjected, “I’d never be able to get anything done if I looked at you every time…”

The TARDIS shook again, strongly enough this time to send both Turlough and Tegan stumbling against the wall, while Nyssa and the Doctor hurriedly grabbed onto the console to stabilize themselves.

“The TARDIS has locked onto some sort of signal,” the Doctor checked the ship’s systems as he spoke. The violent shaking began again. “Or perhaps something else has locked onto us. Either way, we’re landing…hold on!” 

The console room tilted suddenly, causing Tegan to lose her footing and slide down the incline. Turlough wedged himself between the wall and the floor and reached out to grab her hand. The two held on to each other tightly to keep from slamming into the opposite wall. Without warning, the ship leveled out again and shuttered for a few seconds before stilling. The time rotors stopped moving - they had landed.

Tegan got to her feet and pulled Turlough up with her, their argument forgotten for the moment. “So what happened? Where are we?” she asked.

“And when?” added Nyssa. “These readings aren’t making a lot of sense.”

“I’m not sure where or when we are,” the Doctor said, walking around the console. “There must be some sort of interference. But wherever it is there’s a breathable atmosphere.” He triggered the scanner, which stuttered with static for a few moments before stabilizing to reveal a well-manicured lawn leading to a large building.

“It looks like Earth,” Tegan remarked.

“A lot of places look like Earth,” snarked Turlough. 

“I don’t believe that’s where we are. The architecture isn’t right and, while it’s a little hard to see due the angle of the sunlight, the leaves on those trees on either side of the lawn look more blue than green.” The Doctor hit the door control and pulled his hat out of an inner pocket of his coat. “We might as well find out the old fashion way. Come on.”


	2. Roquist 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Forced to land on an unknown planet, the TARDIS team decide to explore.

The Doctor and his companions made their way up a grassy lawn toward the only visible structure. On either side of the lawn, blue-leaved trees swayed gently in the breeze. They could hear warbles of what sounded like bird-song in the distance and, as they approached the building, they saw that it was surrounded by a formal garden, complete with maze-like paths and fountains. The glass facade of the structure reflected the colors and movement of the surrounding land, making it almost blend in with its surroundings.

“This is nice,” said Nyssa. “Very peaceful.” 

“It’s awfully quiet,” Tegan observed. “Where are all the people? All this landscaping doesn’t take care of itself, I’m sure.” 

“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Isn’t that what you humans say, Tegan? It’s when the people start showing up that the trouble typically starts,” Turlough grumbled. “And it usually ends with someone trying to kill us.”

“If you’re going to complain the entire way, you can always wait in the TARDIS,” the Doctor reminded him. He pointed to a nearby path. “Look, there’s a sign.”

“Welcome to the Hotel Blue Horizon.” Nyssa read the sign out loud as they approached it. “Registration of conference attendees will take place in the lobby.” 

“Conference? I wonder what kind of conference?” Tegan asked, intrigued.

“Only one way to find out,” the Doctor said, as he led the way down the path. 

“Blue Horizon,” Turlough muttered, lagging behind the others. “That rings a bell. I wish I could remember where I’d heard it before.” 

The path ended at a small set of white stone steps leading up to double-doors. The Doctor took the steps two at a time, and quickly pulled opened the doors. The quiet was replaced by the bustling sounds of a busy hotel lobby. Inside the building a variety of humanoids and other creatures hurried in various directions or stood huddled together, speaking in small groups. “There are your people, Tegan. Ah, and there’s the registration table, excellent.” The Doctor removed his hat and walked up to the table with a slight bounce to his step. “Excuse me,” he said to the harried-looking receptionist, “I’m afraid my friends and I are slightly lost. Could you tell me which planet this is?”

“Roquist 7, of course - home of the Time Traveler’s Conference,” she replied without looking up. 

“Really? How fascinating. I wonder if I know anyone who is presenting. Is there an itinerary?”

“Doctor, what are you doing?” Nyssa asked, pulling him slightly back from the table. “Have you forgotten why we’re here? Now that we know where we are, shouldn’t be go back to the TARDIS to run that diagnostic?”

“A time traveler’s conference, Nyssa! What are the odds that we landed here by accident? Perhaps this was the source of the signal that interfered with the TARDIS. It could have been a call for help.”

“Or a trap,” added Turlough as he and Tegan joined them. “What if some enemy from your past is waiting here to kill you?”

“Like the Master, perhaps?” Tegan said. “I can see that creep using something like this as bait. Both of you do like to go on and on about the time vortex, polarity of neutron flows, and all that other Time Lord stuff.”

“Yes, thank you, Tegan. That’s all the more reason to investigate. Rassilon knows what kind of damage someone like the Master could do at an event like this.” The Doctor approached the table again and tapped lightly on it. “Excuse me, is there an itinerary?” 

The woman finally looked up to glance over the four of them. “Are you attendees?”

“Yes, yes we are. I’m the Doctor,” the Doctor said cheerfully. “And this is Nyssa, Turlough, and Tegan.”

“Doctor who? I must check you off the attendees list,” replied the woman, flipping through the information on her tablet.

“We’re late additions. Tell me, have you noticed anything odd happening?”

“Odd? It’s a time travelers’ conference - odd is the norm. I don’t see you here, but that’s not surprising. We’ve had quite a few last minute registrations.” She added their names to the list and looked through the extra room keys. “You’ll need two rooms, I assume? One for you and your wife,” she nodded at Nyssa, “and one for your…children?” she asked, indicating Tegan and Turlough.

There was a moment of stunned silence before they all reacted at once.

“No, no, I think you’ve misunderstood…” began Nyssa.

“Are you joking? No way am I related to Turlough,” Tegan said indignantly “Although he’s annoying enough to be a little brother.”

Turlough was laughing, but stopped suddenly when he heard Tegan’s comment. “You’d know annoying, wouldn’t you Tegan? And who are you calling little?” he asked.

The Doctor sighed, slightly flustered. “Yes, it does feel like that occasionally,” he admitted to the receptionist. “But no, we’re just…colleagues. And two rooms will be fine.” He took the room keys from her and handed one to Nyssa. “You and Tegan can share, like on the TARDIS. Turlough, you’re with me. Now, about that itinerary…”


	3. Agenda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tegan and Nyssa amuse themselves while waiting on the Doctor and Turlough. Meanwhile, the Doctor discovers an old friend at the conference.

“‘Time Roaches, Vortisaurs, and Other Creatures of the Time Vortex.’ Great, more things to attack the TARDIS.”

“They could be friendly, Tegan, you never know,” replied Nyssa.

“With a name like time roach? It’s more likely to be something out of _Alien_ than some kind of space koala.” Tegan and Nyssa were waiting in the hallway outside their rooms for the Doctor and Turlough to join them. Tegan had decided to stave off boredom by reading the conference agenda aloud and supplying her own additional commentary. “‘I’m My Own Grandpa: a Panel Discussion of Disastrous Paradoxes.’ I’m surprised they didn’t ask the Doctor to speak at that one.”

“You’re being too critical. Several of these session titles sound very educational.” Nyssa took the program out of Tegan’s hands so that she could read it. “‘From Orson Pink to Kartz-Reimer: Experiments in Time Travel During the Early Humanian Era.’ See. Why wouldn’t you want to learn more about how your people develop time travel?”

“You think the Doctor’s going to let any of us near a discussion like that?” Tegan did her best Doctor impression, “Too much foreknowledge is a dangerous thing, Tegan.” 

Nyssa laughed. “Perhaps not. How about ‘Vortex Manipulators: Menace to the Web of Time or Key to the Democratization of Time Travel?’ That could be interesting.”

“To you, maybe. Let me know if you see a talk on ‘Fifteen Ways to Not Get Lost in a TARDIS.’ That would actually be useful.”

At last the door opened and Turlough stepped into the hallway. “Finally,” Tegan called out, “What took you so long? Where’s the Doctor?”

“In there, of course,” Turlough said, nodding back toward the hotel room. “Trying to leave a message for someone named Delahaye. He got very excited when he saw their name on the attendees list, but he wouldn’t explain why.” Turlough shook his head. “You know how he gets sometimes. What are the two of you doing out here?”

“Reading about the offerings at the conference,” Nyssa replied, holding the agenda up so that he could see it.

“Yeah, there’s a perfect one for you, Turlough,” Tegan said. She leaned to read over Nyssa’s shoulder, “‘Risks and Rewards of Temporal Mechanics for Non-Humanoids.’” 

“Yes, very funny.” Turlough rocked back on his heels as he looked at her. “We’ll see who’s laughing after you’ve had to sit through two hours of dry, dusty history professors debating the ethics of time scoops or the risks of tangential deviations while using warp drives.”

“History professors?” Nyssa asked looking confused. “But this is a time traveler conference so surely the speakers will be time travelers or engineers and scientists.”

Turlough laughed, “Why would real time travelers waste their time giving speeches? They’d be out doing things, like the Doctor does. Only academics would come to something like this.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being an academic, Turlough,” Nyssa reprimanded gently. “Besides, a person can be both a professor and practitioner. Many scientists on Traken did both.”

“And think what a good history teacher could do with time travel,” Tegan added, “Talk about a perfect field trip opportunity.” 

“And risk contaminating your own timeline, Tegan? Perish the thought.” The Doctor finally stepped out of the hotel room and closed the door behind him. “I’m sorry to keep all of you waiting,” he continued, as he turned to walk down the hallway, “I think there may be someone here I know, but so far I haven’t had any luck in getting in touch with them to make sure.”

“So Turlough said,” Nyssa replied as she and the others followed him. “Why aren’t you sure if you know them?”

“Because the name they’re using is an alias. ‘Jacquotte Delahaye’ was a 17th century pirate on Earth. I knew someone who liked to create aliases like that - an old friend from Gallifrey.”

“A Time Lord?” asked Turlough.

“Yes. She, or he on a few occasions, usually goes by the title the Corsair. But she has a predilection for borrowing the names of pirates when she wants to blend in, if you can call it that. She can be a bit conspicuously quirky at times.”

“Pot meet kettle,” muttered Tegan. 

“Oh, you’d like the Corsair, Tegan. She’s very…honest and direct. Like you. Very unlike most Time Lords, that’s one reason why I always liked her.”

“Rude is what you’re trying to say without saying it, right?” replied Tegan, throwing Turlough a dirty look when he laughed at that.

The Doctor sighed. “No, of course not. Hurry now - hopefully we aren’t too late to join the paradox discussion.”


	4. The Time Travelers

Three women sat together at a table in the Hotel Blue Horizon’s bar, casually sipping drinks and lost in conversation with each other. Two of them were young and looked enough alike to be mistaken for sisters by the unobservant. The third was cloaked in dark grey fabric that covered her hair and obscured most of her face. What little of her skin was left exposed glinted when the light hit it just right.

“So what you are saying,” the cloaked woman began hesitantly, “…is that, despite the stated goal of shared knowledge and scientific advancement, the real purpose of this conference is to socialize?” Her voice had a metallic quality which strengthened the overall impression that she was not entirely organic. 

The older looking of the other two women laughed. “Why not? With all of space and time to explore, it’s not like we bump into people like Jack and River all the time. What’s wrong with a bit of catching up?”

“Except that we seem to run into people we know quite often,” interrupted the younger looking woman, glancing knowingly over the top of her cup of tea. “One might begin to think it was intentional. And, given the givens, being that predictable is just as dangerous as being here right now.”

“Oh you think everything is dangerous,” her partner scoffed, dismissing the statement with a wave of her hand. “What are they going to do, kill me?”

“There are worse things than death,” the younger looking woman replied. “Which is why we aren’t at the paradox discussion right now, isn’t it?”

“Really?” Clara Oswald’s face was serious as she leaned forward to look closely at her traveling companion, but there was a hint of amusement in her eyes. “And when was the last time YOU died?”

Lady Me sighed dramatically. “How many times do I have to say it? It was so very long ago…”

“For you,” Clara interjected. 

“If you hadn’t been so reckless, as you always are…”

“And if you hadn’t put a complete innocent in danger just to gain the promise of Time Lord protection…”

They were saved from the familiar discussion by a sudden chirping tone which indicated an incoming call. Clara grabbed the communicator off the table. “I routed my room’s phone through here. Excuse me,” she said as she stood up and walked a short distance away from the table to listen to the message.

“Why do you travel together if this…issue causes conflict?” the other woman asked Lady Me.

Me gave her a small, enigmatic smile. “It’s more a habit than an argument. And we travel together because we enjoy each other’s company. Most travel is better when you have someone to share it with, but with time travel it can be vital to have someone with you to help ground you in your own timeline.”

“And is that why I’m here?” the biomechanoid asked. “To ground you and Clara?”

“Perhaps a bit, but also to see the universe beyond Jariden space. Clara felt you might appreciate something of an escape, especially given everything that you experienced in the Time War. Was she wrong? Do you want to go home, Aby?”

“Oh no, and I do not want you to think I’m ungrateful.” Aby pulled her cloak more tightly around herself in a nervous gesture. “Seeing the universe, being able to travel in time, or even just being here in this place where it’s so peaceful, it’s all wonderful. It just seems so…unlikely. I keep wondering ‘why me?’”

Suddenly Clara rushed back to their table with a slightly panicked look on her face. “We have to go,” she said in a hushed tone. “Now.”

“What’s wrong?” Lady Me stood as she spoke. “Have the Time Lords found you? I did tell you this was a bad idea.”

“Not the Time Lords, a Time Lord.” Clara looked around to make sure no one was listening, “That message was from the Doctor.”

“He’s here?” Lady Me asked, confused. “And he called you? Has the memory wipe failed?”

“No, this didn’t sound like either of my Doctors. Perhaps it’s one of his earlier incarnations? And he wasn’t asking for me, but for someone called the Corsair.”

“So why leave?” Aby asked. She was still seated and reluctant to go. “It’s just a case of mistaken identity.”

“Because he hasn’t met me yet.” Clara whispered insistently. “Well, he has, sort of…it’s all very complicated. But the point is: there are paradoxes and then there’s fracturing the Web of Time. This is something I’m not willing to risk.” 

“Leaving may solve our issues, but what about Captain Jack, River, and the others?” Lady Me pointed out. “There are a quite a few people here who have known or will know the Doctor at some point in his timeline. What are the chances that we will be able convince all of them to leave before he runs into one or more of them?” 

“Exactly,” Aby persisted. “It seems to me that the problem isn’t us, it’s the Doctor. So the solution is to keep the Doctor away from the conference and distracted until everything is over.”

“Distracted how?” Clara asked skeptically. 

“We will give him what he loves most.” Aby smiled mischievously. “A puzzle and a bit of danger. Nothing too serious,” she said, seeing Clara’s expression, “just something to keep him busy running down corridors rather than bumping into new old friends.” 

“I don’t want him hurt,” Clara said, “Or his companions.” 

“Of course not,” Aby replied. She stood and held out her hand. “If you will let me borrow the TARDIS key, I have some equipment I could cannibalize to create a virtual environment. Then it is just a matter of luring him into a specific location.”

“I don’t know.” Clara hesitated. “It could still be risky.”

“Please, Clara…Lady Me…let me try this,” Aby pleaded. “You have done so much for me, let me give you something in return. If it works, everybody wins. The Doctor gets a couple of days of adventure, something he will probably find infinitely more enjoyable than a few lectures. Meanwhile we get a few days of care-free relaxation with your friends. After everything we have all been through, don’t we deserve that?”

Lady Me and Clara shared a silent look for a moment. Then Clara turned to Aby and handed her the key to their TARDIS.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Ashildr is called just Me at this point, but it's such an unfortunate choice of name and only useful in a joke of the "Who's on First" variety. So I'm intentionally using one of her previous names to make things a bit easier.
> 
> I listened to "The Four Doctors" for the first time this past weekend, which is how Aby ended up here. Why hasn't anyone done anything with the Jariden in the Time War? Or have they and I've just missed it? This is one of the problems with listening to Big Finish completely out of order.


	5. The Dynamic Duo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bored with the conference, Turlough and Tegan decide to find the mysterious signal that affected the TARDIS.

Turlough pushed the door open long enough to slip out of the auditorium and into the hotel lobby. For a few moments the sounds of the ongoing lecture could be heard from inside, then the door closed with a hiss and everything was quiet again. He paused briefly as his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room and then he spotted Tegan pacing not far away. 

“It’s not your cup of tea either, is it?” he asked as he walked toward her.

“A room full of people using five words when one would do? Or worse, using a whole bunch of words that don’t actually explain anything? It’s like having a roomful of Doctor clones, all trying to one-up each other.” Tegan grumbled. She stopped walking to glance at him shrewdly. “What’re you doing out here? You talk to the Doctor and Nyssa about this,” she waved her hand, “…time travel stuff all the time. I would’ve thought you’d be all over this.”

“I understand it…well, some of it anyway. And the actual mechanics of it are quite interesting, but,” he nodded back toward the auditorium, “the being talked at is a bit too much like being back at Brendon. So I thought I’d explore the hotel instead.”

“You thought you’d go snooping, you mean.” Tegan narrowed her eyes at him.

Turlough sighed in exasperation, but he didn’t deny it. “Don’t you think it’s a little too convenient that we landed here at the exact time that this conference was going on?”

“Yeah, it’s weird. The whole thing’s practically got “DISTRACT THE DOCTOR” written all over it.” 

“Exactly. When we landed, the Doctor said that the TARDIS was locked onto a signal. Shouldn’t we try to find whatever caused it? Whether it’s a trap or a call for help, it’s got to be more important than what’s going on in there.”

Tegan bit her lip lightly as she thought through their options. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I actually agree with you…which is a sure sign that something is wrong.” Turlough made a face at her, but Tegan ignored him. “And if this is some plot of the Master’s, we need to put an end to it fast. But shouldn’t we get the Doctor and Nyssa?”

“Good luck,” Turlough scoffed. “You saw the both of them - they’re in their element here. I doubt anything short of an alien invasion would drag their attention away.”

“Fine, but where do we start looking? It’s not like I’ve got a signal detector hidden in my dress and neither of us have a TARDIS key, so we can’t use any of the sensors in there.”

“No, but the Doctor brought some equipment up from the TARDIS after we checked into our hotel rooms. He probably meant to track the signal with it, before he found out his friend was here and got distracted. As far as I could tell, he wasn’t carrying any of it when he left, so most of it should still be there.”

“And you’re going to know what it is and how to use it?” Tegan didn’t sound convinced. “I’d rather you not Turlough your way into blowing us and the rest of the hotel up.”

“When have I ever blown anything up?” Turlough was indignant. “Normally I’m the one running away from the explosions, not causing them!”

“You do like to run away from things,” Tegan replied with a grin. “Oh all right. We can try there first. If we don’t find anything useful, we can start searching the rest of the hotel and hope that we stumble across whatever it is. Given our track record, that’s probably pretty likely.”

They quickly made their way back upstairs. Once they arrived, Tegan paused in front of the door to Turlough and the Doctor’s room. “We’re going to need…”

“A key,” Turlough finished the sentence for her as he pulled the key out of his pocket. He shrugged, unlocking the door. “I said I forgot something and the Doctor just handed it over. Sometimes he’s far too trusting for his own good.” 

“Yeah, like letting you onboard the TARDIS in the first place.” Tegan followed Turlough into the room only to nearly run into him as he stopped abruptly. The door bumped against her, unable to close because she was standing in the way. “What now?” Tegan pushed impatiently at Turlough from behind. “Go on!” 

“Tegan,” Turlough said hesitantly, not moving. “We’re not alone in here.”

Tegan leaned around him to look. She saw a grey robbed figure with slightly metallic-looking skin standing at the far corner of the room. In front of the stranger stood some kind of device and it was obvious that they had been working on it before she and Turlough had entered.

“Who are you?” demanded Tegan, pushing her way past Turlough. “What’re you doing here?”

“Well, this is unfortunate,” muttered Aby. Then she saw the door to the room begin to close. “Catch that door! It is the trigger…”

The door shut with a click and suddenly the whole room changed. 


	6. Cat and Mouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nyssa and the Doctor attend a lecture, unaware that they’re being observed.

The lecture ended to polite applause. The Doctor immediately turned to the man sitting beside him to quietly continue their disagreement on the elasticity of Time and its ability to heal itself. Nyssa was only half paying attention to the argument. She looked around the room, searching the crowd for their missing companions.

Several rows behind and to the right of the pair, Clara slumped further down in her seat. She knew it was probably unnecessary, after all there was no reason for the other woman to notice her, but the reaction was instinctual. A life on the run from the Time Lords had a tendency to make you jumpy. She looked at the young Doctor as he gestured wildly about something, lost in conversation. It was so odd to see him looking like this - young and blonde. She knew she’d probably met this version before, but her memories of her time in the Doctor’s time-stream were fuzzy at best. A few seconds later she felt someone slide into the empty seat to her right and she glanced over her shoulder in surprise. Clara smiled in relief when she recognized the newcomer. 

“Perhaps you should try a hat? Or I hear capes are in this year.” River Song grinned mischievously from under the hood of a dark green wool cape. “Perfect for hiding your identity while retaining your sartorial air of mystery and charm.”

“This isn’t funny, River,” Clara whispered, trying to divide her attention between Dr. Song and the other time travelers. 

River leaned her head to the side, her eyes twinkling. “It’s a little funny. A host of potential paradoxes listening to someone talk about paradoxes? It’s very meta.” River looked past Clara to the empty seats on the other side of her. “And where’s your Mimi Me?” 

Clara made a face at her. “Another ‘Me’ joke? Really? Honestly, I keep trying to convince her to go back to using Ashildr, it would make life so much easier.” She cleared her throat and, glancing back at the Doctor, she lowered her voice again. “If you must know, she’s following the other two.”

“You do realize that by following them you risk drawing far more attention to yourselves than if you just ignored them?” 

“We have it under control.”

“Do you?” River looked toward the Doctor and Nyssa. “This is the Doctor, after all. He’s used to being recognized and stalked by monsters, tyrants, and out-of-control robots. The best way to not draw his attention is to not act like a villain, which I’m afraid you’re rather failing at currently.”

“What would you suggest?”

“You need a disguise and something to change your voice. I’m sure your TARDIS has something that can accomplish that. Then just stay out of his way! There’s no need to panic.”

“So why aren’t you taking your own advice?” Clara asked, eyeing River’s outfit.

“Because, my dear, I don’t have a TARDIS.” River grinned charmingly and leaned in to bump Clara’s shoulder. “But if I could have a few moments in yours…”

Clara chuckled despite herself. “I see. And you’d only be interested in the wardrobe right? Not the TARDIS itself?” 

“Well, if you’re offering…”

“You’re not borrowing our TARDIS, River.”

River sighed dramatically, “Oh all right, just the wardrobe then.”

—— 

Meanwhile, Nyssa was becoming increasingly restless.

“Doctor?” she interrupted him mid-gesture. “Shouldn’t the others be back by now? They’ve been gone for quite a while.”

“Tegan and Turlough aren’t back yet?” He glanced around in surprise. “Oh well, I’m sure they’re fine. They’re both capable of looking after themselves.” He paused. “Most of the time. Well, occasionally. At any rate, we haven’t heard any screaming yet, so that’s a good sign.” While the Doctor was distracted, the man he’d been arguing with seized the opportunity to slip away quietly. “Anyway, they probably just decided to sit in on a different session,” the Doctor continued, frowning at the stranger’s back as the man hurried out of the auditorium. He’d had other points to make and hated losing the opportunity to expound upon the subject further. 

Nyssa looked at the Doctor dubiously. “I don’t think that’s likely. Neither of them seemed very excited to be here at all. And, despite how interesting all of this is, don’t we have other things to do? Like fixing the TARDIS or locating the signal that brought us here in the first place?”

“Ah! I’m already working on that.” The Doctor pulled an odd looking device out of his pocket. It was a small box with a long antennae on the front and a series of lights and buttons on the top. The whole thing was attached to a handle with a loop at the end. “I cobbled together a few odds and ends from the TARDIS to create this tracker. It’ll take a while to sort through some background signals in order to locate the one we’re interested in, and until it finishes we’re free to enjoy the conference!” 

The device gave a sharp ding. A light in the center began to blink yellow and then red with increasing speed. The Doctor frowned at it. “Ah. That…wasn’t supposed to happen.”

Nyssa looked at a small readout near the handle of the device. “That doesn’t look like the signal the TARDIS was reacting to. The frequency is wrong.”

“Indeed.” He stood, holding the device out in front of him like a metal detector and waving it from side to side as he walked toward the exit. “Come on, let’s see if we can find what it’s locked onto. Whatever it is is strong enough to mask the signal that brought the TARDIS down.” The Doctor frowned and stopped suddenly, nearly causing Nyssa to run into him. “Which is a worrying thought.” 

As Nyssa and the Doctor hurried out in the direction the device indicated, Clara and River saw Lady Me open a door near the front of the auditorium. She scanned the room quickly and, spotting Clara, she hurried over to the two women. 

“What is it?” Clara asked, trying to see where the Doctor had gone. “We’re going to lose him…”

“We’ve got bigger problems than that,” Lady Me interrupted impatiently. “Part of the hotel has disappeared!” 


	7. Corridors of Confusion

The hotel room dropped away like the scenery in a dream, to be replaced by a dimly lit stone corridor. 

“What the-” Turlough spluttered, looking around. 

Tegan felt just as confused. “Where are we? Did we just get, I don’t know, teleported into an underground cave system or something?”

“Teleported?” Turlough smirked. “There wasn’t any energy transfer. We would have felt it if there were.” He ran his hand along the wall. “Feels real enough.”

“What, you think it’s a hallucination?”

“Not unless we’re sharing the same one and that seems mercifully unlikely. But they,” he nodded toward the third person in the hallway, “said something about a trigger, so I’m guessing they can tell us all about it.”

Aby ignored them both. She knelt on the floor, hands outstretched, searching the air around her. 

Tegan stormed forward and kicked Aby in the shin. “Hey you! Jedi Wannabe! What did you do to us?”

Aby rubbed her leg and grimaced. “Would you just shut up and help me find my equipment?”

“First, why don’t you tell us who you are and what you were doing in my room?” Turlough came to stand beside Tegan, arms crossed over his chest. “Then you can tell us what this device of yours does.”

Standing up with an annoyed huff, she glared at them. “I am Aby. What the device does doesn’t really matter. You two interrupted me before I could finish setting it up anyway-”

“Good thing too!” Tegan pointed an accusing finger in woman’s face. “Are you working with the Master?”

“The Master?” Aby laughed. “No.”

“But you’re here for the Doctor, aren’t you?” Turlough studied her shrewdly. “Are you Delahaye?”

“No,” Aby began cautiously,”but I know her. And, believe it or not, we don’t wish you or the Doctor any harm.”

“Well I don’t believe you. In my experience, people who aren’t up to something don’t let themselves into other people’s rooms without permission.” Tegan looked meaningfully at Turlough, who grinned unrepentantly at her. She turned back to the other woman. “Will you just answer our questions and stop stalling?” 

“Listen, if we find my device we can turn it off and have this conversation like reasonable people. But if we don’t find it, we’ll be stuck here-”

“Where is here?” Tegan interrupted. “Are we even on the same planet?” 

Before Aby could reply, they heard footsteps from the far end of the corridor. Two people in uniforms turned the corner and stared at them. “Intruders located,” one of them said into a handheld communicator. He and his compatriot pointed their weapons at the trio. “Stand still and keep your hands where we can see them.”

Aby cursed quietly and began slowly backing away. “We need to leave. Now!”

“We’re not going anywhere with you until you start telling us the truth. Right, Turlough?” Tegan glanced at him and was surprised to see what little color he had drain from his face. 

“It…can’t be,” he muttered under his breath as he stared at the soldiers in horror. He too started backing away.

“I said stand still!” One of the guards fired a shot that hit the wall near the companions. 

Tegan gasped as a stone shard grazed her cheek. “On second thought, lead the way!” 

Turlough grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the open corridor behind them. “Run!”

——

The Doctor walked quickly down the hotel hallway, ignoring the conference attendees and guests running in the opposite direction. Nyssa was amazed he didn’t bump into any of them, but he sidestepped every obstacle with an athletic grace while keeping his gaze steadfastly focused on the readouts of his device. 

She didn’t have nearly the same luck. Continually she found her way blocked by the crowds and so fell further and further behind. “Doctor!” she called out worriedly. “Doctor, wait!”

He seemed not to hear her and soon Nyssa could no longer see him among the crowd. Ducking under the outstretched arm of a hotel employee who was trying to usher people toward the exits, she ran in the direction she’d last seen him, glancing down each side corridor in case he’d gone that direction. Finally, she saw the back of his cream jacket as he turned down a hallway on their right. As she hurried to catch up with him, she spotted a sign on wall and, with a growing sense of foreboding, guessed where the signal he was tracking came from.

She was only a few steps behind him now and reached out to grab his arm as he rounded another corner. Looking past him, her eyes went wide. “Stop!”

The Doctor reacted instantly this time, stopping to look back at her with bemused consternation. “What is it Nyssa? We’re almost there.” 

“Yes, I know!” She pointed at the hallway in front of them. “Look!”

They both turned to stare at a reflective, metallic surface that completely obscured the way forward. 

“Well, that’s…remarkable!” The Doctor looked down at his device. The indicator lights were now lit constantly. “The signal I’m detecting is coming from beyond this barrier. I wonder what’s in there?” 

“Doctor, don’t you realize where we are?” When he looked at her in confusion, Nyssa gestured at a nearby sign. “Our rooms are on this hallway. In fact, they should be right in front of us.”

——

They ran down a series of seemingly identical hallways until a large metallic door blocking their path forced them to stop.

“At last,” Tegan huffed, leaning on a wall in exhaustion, “these shoes weren’t made for running. Anyway, we lost those guards ages ago.”

“We didn’t lose them,” Turlough replied tersely. “They’re probably taking a different route to get ahead of us.” He grabbed Aby by the shoulder and roughly spun her around. “How did you know? Did the Trion government send you to bring us here?”

“Steady on, Turlough-“

“Is this one of yours?” Aby shrugged off his hand and returned to studying the door’s control panel. “I thought it wasn’t one of mine, but all secret military bases look a bit alike, don’t they?”

“What are you on about?”

“Ask your friend.” Aby pulled the tip of her finger off and exposed a metal connector which she jammed into the door control. The was a small spark and the smell of ozone. “I think he can tell you exactly where we are. Meanwhile, I’m busy trying to get us out of here.”

“What are you,” Tegan stared in horror, “some kind of android?” 

“Got it in one.” Aby wiggled her finger trying to find the right circuit. “I am a Jarden.”

“Sorry, never heard of you.”

“I wouldn’t have expected you to. You are neither a Dalek nor a Time Lord.”

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Turlough said angrily. 

“I didn’t bring you here,” the android snapped. “Technically, we’ve never left where we were and if anyone brought us to this place, it was you.” 

“I’m confused.” Tegan looked at Turlough. “Do you understand what’s going on?”

“Either this,” Turlough glared at Aby, “ _person_ has managed to bring us halfway across the galaxy without using a transmat or time scoop, or this is all just a complex illusion.”

“Or neither.” There was a buzz and the door slid slowly open. Aby smiled and withdrew her finger from the controls. “There we are. Come on.”

The room they entered was dark but the sounds of their footstep echoed hollowly, as if they were in a vast, mostly empty space. 

“Anyone see a light switch anywhere?” Tegan walked ahead tentatively. “I don’t fancy stepping on anything in the pitch black.”

“Wait a moment.” Aby felt along the wall. They heard a click and suddenly the space was flooded with harsh, artificial light. 

Tegan blinked, trying to clear the spots from her eyes. “Are those planes? What is this, some Bond villain’s underground hanger?”

“They’re not airplanes, they’re KST-3 bombers.” Turlough said hollowly. “And those,” he pointed at several less bulky spacecraft further down, “those are the VTR-7S.” He walked to one and ran his fingers slowly across the side. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one of these.”

“So they’re spaceships?” Tegan followed him. “Are they from your home world?”

“Worse than that,” Turlough’s eyes stared vacantly as he remembered, “they’re from our civil war.”

“We don’t have time for this. You, the red-haired one - if you know this place, how do we get back to the hallway where we arrived?”

“Turlough?” Tegan put her hand on his shoulder and shook him gently. “Turlough, what’s wrong with you?”

“This astroid, it’s the base in Sector 9 where I was,” he broke off and swallowed nervously. Turning to Tegan, he gestured around them. “It looks just the same as when I left. But that was ages ago! How is any of this possible?“ 

There was weapons’ fire behind them. Aby yelped and crumpled to the ground as a group of soldiers approached from all sides, pointing blasters at the trio. 

Tegan held up her hands. “Oh rabbits.”

“Vislor Turlough?” One soldier strode ahead holding a pair of handcuffs. “Junior Ensign Commander Vislor Turlough?”

He shuddered slightly, but gathered himself. With a resigned sigh, he stepped forward. “Yes?”

“I hereby arrest you for gross dereliction of duty.” She snapped the handcuffs on his wrists. Other soldiers did the same to Tegan and Aby. “I’m sure, by the end of the day, Command will add charges for resisting arrest and conspiring with the enemy.”

“What are you talking about?” Turlough looked genuinely surprised. “I haven’t conspired with anyone.”

“Then I’m sure you’ll have a good explanation for why you were trying to escape this facility with two enemy agents-“

“Now hold on there, Barbarella,“ Tegan began indignantly, “I don’t know what Turlough’s done now or who you think we are, but I can assure you this is all just a big mix-up.”

The soldier ignored them. “Take them to the brig. And if they give you any more lip,” she glanced at Tegan, “feel free to shoot them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's alive...ALIVE!
> 
> Or at least it's not dead yet...


	8. Blast from the Past

“What are they doing?”

“Staring at the…thing. The silver wall, whatever it is.” Clara whispered, peeking around the corner. “River, do you recognize the woman?”

River stepped close and, resting her hand on Clara’s shoulder, leaned out to study the two people in front of them. “Nyssa of Traken, princess of a long dead planet and last surviving member of her kind.”

“There’s lot of that going around,” Lady Me muttered, which earned a glare from Clara. She too leaned around to take a look. “I thought she was younger.”

“Well, everyone ages.” River looked at her two companions and amended herself. “Most people age. I wasn’t aware that she’d traveled with him again later in her life, but clearly she has. And anyway, that doesn’t matter. What is going on and why do I get the feeling that you two are somehow behind it?”

“Us?” Clara’s reply was louder than she intended and all three women ducked quickly around the corner and out of view. “How could this have anything to do with us?”

“Aby,” Lady Me said simply. “I was following the other two, the red-head and the Australian. They let themselves into the Doctor’s room and just as the door closed that,” she waved her hand, “wall appeared.” 

“And?”

“What if she was in there setting up her device and they interfered somehow?“

River frowned and folded her arms. “What kind of device?”

——

“Is it solid?”

“I’m…not certain. It’s emanating a signal and…some sort of energy.” The Doctor grabbed Nyssa’s hand as she reached out toward the shimmering wall. “I have a better way to find out. Stand back.” They both took a couple of steps backwards as the Doctor pulled a cricket ball and a bit of string out of his pocket. He tied the string around the ball and, setting his fingers in the proper grip, threw the ball at the wall. 

It passed through the barrier soundlessly, although the ripples of its passing spread outward. The string jerked straight and the fell limp in the Doctor’s hand. “Like tossing a stone into a pond,” he observed quietly. The Doctor pulled the string and the ball rolled through the silver wall and came to rest at this feet. “Well that answers a few questions,” he continued, as he picked it up and stuck it and the string back into his coat pocket. 

“But what is it? Where did it come from? And what if Tegan and Turlough are in there?”

“Turlough said he was heading back to our room, so I think it’s highly likely.” 

“Right.” Nyssa nodded decisively. “We should go back to the TARDIS and gather some equipment to study the phenomenon so we know what we’re dealing with-” 

“An excellent idea, and while you’re doing that I’ll take a more direct approach. Just don’t follow me.” He grinned at her charmingly as he stepped backward through the wall.

“Doctor, no!” Nyssa cried out, but he was already gone. “Yes, of course,” she grumbled, “why would we want to take a methodical, scientific approach to a mystery when we could just throw ourselves heedlessly into unknown dangers.” She sighed, resignedly. “I’m probably going to regret this.” Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and stepped through the silver barrier. 

——

“This is all your fault!”

“How is this my fault,” Turlough complained. At first he’d been glad that the guards had put he, Tegan, and Aby in the same cell, but now he was having second thoughts. “I didn’t bring us here!”

“Maybe not, but you’re why we were arrested. What did you do this time?”

“I think the more important question is what her,” he pointed at Aby, “device did to us. All of these events happened a long time ago, but they didn’t happen exactly like this. So is that thing you were working on telepathically recreating my memories and then projecting them as…what? Hard light holograms?”

“No.” Aby winced as she poked at the damage the energy weapons had done to her right leg. As they watched, the injury began to slowly repair itself. “Originally the technology was designed to create customized prison cells using nanoforms that flood the subject’s body, reach into their memories, and then recreate a moment in their lives when they were happy and calm. People were kept for years like that without even being aware they were imprisoned.”

“That’s…awful!”

“Most civilized cultures agreed. The tech was banned but, during the Time War, the Dalek’s repurposed it and made some…adjustments.”

Turlough wrinkled his nose. “The Time War?” 

Aby laughed bitterly. “If you haven’t run into it, consider yourself lucky.”

“Forget that,” Tegan interrupted, “you mentioned the Daleks before. Who are they? Are they associated with the Time Lords in some way?”

“You could say that,” Aby laughed again, “they’ve been enemies for…I don’t know how long exactly. A very long time, at any rate.”

“I’ve heard of them. They’re bad news.” Turlough began to pace. “How did they adapt the technology?”

“They got rid of the memory suppressant that kept prisoners unaware that they weren’t actually relieving a past event and added some of their time technology. Now, not only were prisoners aware they were prisoners, the cellscape scenarios generated could be pulled both from their past and their future. The Daleks used it as an interrogation device. They recreated the worst moments in their subjects lives and force them to live or relive them over and over again.” 

Turlough narrowed his eyes. “And you were installing that in my hotel room?”

“Yes, but I was trying to remove the part that selected scenarios from people’s timestreams and instead supply it with a preselected scenerio.” She held her hands up as Tegan took a deep breath, ready to unleash a rant. “A benign one. Just a simple, harmless mystery to keep the Doctor occupied, but you interrupted me before I could complete that process. Clearly some of the Dalek technology is still active.”

Tegan put her hands on her hips. “A likely story!” 

“Right.” Taking advantage of the fact that Tegan wasn’t angry at him right now, Turlough joined her to glare down at Aby. “How do we know anything you’ve said is actually true?”

“Look around you! This is clearly an event from your past, something terrible that you’d rather forget, right?”

“Maybe.” Turlough looked at her shiftily. “But why is it slightly different?”

“The original prison technology was adaptive. In cases where prisoners were housed together, the scenario would adjust to provide the new people with roles in the scene.”

“Which is how you and I got identified as enemy agents,” Tegan guessed.

“Exactly.” 

“So how do we stop it?”

“If we could find my device, we could turn it off. Otherwise,” Aby shrugged, “I have no idea.”

“Well, we better figure out something quickly.” Turlough walked to the cell door. “Trust me, we don’t want to be here for long.”

“Why, what’s about to happen?”

“In the actual events? The asteroid base was captured by opposition forces and then the most horrible thing happened.”

Tegan frowned worriedly. “What?”

“They exiled me to Brendon School.”

“Is that all?” Tegan rolled her eyes. “There are worse things than being sent to Earth.”

“Hardly any.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Aby interrupted. “Tegan and I being here changes things. Although this whole scenario is based on your memories, just because something happened then doesn’t mean that’s what will happen now. The Dalek systems are programmed to find the worst, most painful option available and supply that when an adjustment needs to be made.”

“Great. What does that mean?”

“Worst case? Execution. Isn’t that what primitive cultures like this did to spies?”

“Primitive!” Turlough squeaked in indignation. 

“Oh finally!” Tegan grinned. “Now you know what it feels like.”

“Wait a minute,” Turlough glanced at Tegan in annoyance before focusing on Aby, “if the original technology was meant contain and keep people docile, why should we worry about being executed? Even if the Daleks altered it as a torture device, they wouldn’t want their subjects being killed before they’d gotten whatever information they were after from them.” 

“You’re right. It won’t actually kill you.”

“Well thank goodness for that,” Tegan muttered.

“It’ll just feel like you’re being killed,” Aby continued, “and then you’ll wake up and it’ll all start again.”

“Wonderful.” Tegan glared at Turlough. “I’m so glad you wanted to explore.”

“Okay, so we just need to take one thing at a time,” Turlough looked around the room, “escape from this cell and then find your device.”

“How?”

They heard yelling in the distance. Aby stood and began backing away from the cell door. “It may be too late for that. It sounds like a battle is going on out there.”

“No, it’s something else,” Turlough held his hands out. “Can’t you feel it?”

Tegan looked around, confused. “No.”

“Something’s changed.” He gasped and pointed. “Look at the walls!”

The cell walls rippled around them, changing shape until they fell away entirely. Suddenly they were standing in a large, dark room. Everything around them was metallic, including a series of large storage containers stacked in rows as far as they could see.

“Is this a cargo hold?”

“Oh no,” Tegan muttered, her eyes wide in horror. She grabbed Turlough’s arm and pulled him with her under the cover of a nearby stairwell. “I think I know where we are.”

“Where,” Aby asked, following them.

“It’s the spaceship that crashed into Earth and killed all the dinosaurs.” Tegan looked around nervously. “The one that was carrying the Cybermen.” 

“What are you talking about,” Turlough asked.

She turned to him, her tone hushed but urgent. “It’s where Adric died!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now I have an excuse to watch "Earthshock" again. Yay!
> 
> The nanoform prison technology comes from the Eighth Doctor audio "[Memory Lane](https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/memory-lane-254)."
> 
> The scenario that Aby, Turlough, and Tegan originally found themselves in is my take on the aftermath of the events Turlough remembered in "[The Memory Bank](https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-memory-bank-and-other-stories-1056?range=104)."


End file.
